Council President Nicholas Kiak said he wanted to consider any changes to the once-controversial manual during a meeting held solely for that purpose.

Councilman James Gregory said, "They (the proposed changes) seem to be minor."

"I've learned nothing is minor," Kiak said, although he added he hoped the new ideas would not cause controversy.

Former Chief Al Shaw proposed changes to the 155-page manual, entitled "Policies and Procedures," which he compiled in 1981, three months after he came to the department. Additional proposed changes, however, were defeated by a 4-3 vote at the Oct. 1, 1984, council meeting. At that time, some council members felt the added regulations would give the chief too much power over his officers.

The decision was a source of friction between Shaw and some members of council, which caused speculation that it might have been a contributing factor to Shaw's resignation, which Shaw explained by saying he and council had "divergent philosophies."

Stiles' proposed changes primarily deal with deletions of matters he feels can be personally supervised by himself and not spelled out in impersonal regulations.

One example is doing away with officer appearance logs. Other changes he'd like to make include changing radio designations for police cars and removing officers involved in shooting incidents from duty for a minimum of two days.